Category Archives: Big Dog Branding Marketing

The results are in and once again, Promotional Products carry more Reach & Recall value than other forms of traditional media. Check out this 2 minute video to see the results of the study. Note: There is background music on video, so adjust your speakers accordingly.

Small and large scale projects are happening around us constantly. Whether it’s a new technology that’s being implemented or the execution of a marketing campaign, someone in your organization is running the show. But how do they do it, managing so many personalities (internal and external), deadlines and expectations?

Project management is a complex yet essential role in any business. From my experience, here are a few keys to ensuring that the next project you manage goes smoothly.

1. Understand the scope of the project. As the project manager (PM), be sure that you understand why it is that your company wants to devote their time and resources to this project. They aren’t just trying to keep you busy. They have an end goal in mind, whether it is increased awareness or increased revenue. Be sure you are on the same page as those who originally envisioned the final product.

2. Assemble the right team. Once you know your mission, get the right folks on the bus with you. Start by evaluating your current team. Do you need someone who understands HTML coding or video editing? If someone on your team already knows this or can pick it up quickly, great! If not, make sure you acquire the correct people. Otherwise you’re setting yourself and the rest of the team up for failure.

3. Create a common goal. As the PM you are more than aware of the desired outcome. Share that with your team! Not only is it essential that you know why you’re working on this project but your team needs to know, too. The last thing you want as a PM is to have a bunch of worker mice on your hands. Give their roles meaningful purpose, and show appreciation for it. Genuine appreciation.

4. Develop a schedule with built-in milestones (and buffer time). Yes, you should be working towards milestones! Build a schedule and share it with a few higher-ups as well as your team. Make your expectations for deadlines known and understood by the team. Build individual and team milestones so everyone can stay on track. Ultimately, though, as the PM it’s your responsibility to make sure everyone is keeping up. A little secret is to build buffer time – a day, a week – so that you are always ahead of schedule.

5. Make yourself organized and available. Keep on internal and external communications. If you’re working with an agency be sure to build rapport with a primary contact person. You want to be sure that you have a mutual understanding with each aspect of the project. It’s also essential to have a grasp on where things are currently, where they are going and how you’re going to get there. Keeping organized notes based on your schedule is essential to the success of your project.

6. Evaluate. As the project moves along have your team take notes on what works, what doesn’t and how you can improve. Making notes as you go will ensure that nothing is overlooked. It’s hard to remember how things went at the start of a project six months ago. Reading over detailed notes from six months ago makes the evaluation process much easier.

Beating out Radio, Newspaper and Television, Promotional Products score big with smart advertisers looking to make big time impressions on small time budgets.

A 2010 study was conducted with businesspeople in the New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, London, Sidney, Toronto and Montreal metro areas to determine the value of media and the cost per impression made with the target audience.

The Conclusion? Promotional products have a lower “cost per impression” than nearly all forms of media.

What is an “impression”?

An impression is created when a person sees or hears your brand image/message featured in some form of advertisement. Impressions are critical in the effort of creating brand awareness. The more a person sees your brand message, the higher the chance that they will one day do business with you.

Top 5 product categories which average the highest number of impressions..

#1. Bags – 1078 impressions per month

#2. Caps – 443 impressions per month

#3. Pens – 437 impressions per month

#4. Shirts – 344 impressions per month

#5. Calendars – 295 impressions per month

Calculating Cost Per Impression

Impressions are calculated by multiplying the number of times an item is seen/used by the number of people that saw or used that item and the brand message it carries.

As an example, let’s look at a branded Bic Pen costing the advertiser $.46 per per pen for 300 pieces, a total cost of $138.00 for this order.

Based on the findings of the study, writing instruments average 437 impressions per month, which would mean that this particular pen would have a $.001 cost per impression.

For the sake of argument, let’s calculate this example at half the amount of impressions, bringing it in at 218.5 per month. This equates out to $.002 per impression. Even at just 100 impressions per month, the cost only reaches 4 cents per impression!

So what happens if this advertiser gives out all 300 pens at an event and then decides to be conservative by calculating each pen at just 100 impressions in six months time.. This calculates out to 30,000 impressions at a cost of $0.0046 per impression. In 6 months time, the advertisers brand message was identified 30,000 times! All for $138.00 in branded Bic Pens!

What about that $35 branded shirt you’re wearing?

Did you realize that shirts average 344 impressions (views by others) per month? That equates to $.10 per impression after just one month. What happens to that number after 6 months? Your impressions average 2064 over 6 months and your cost drops to $.01 per impression.

Other findings from the study..

Top 5 types of promotional products used by those who participated in the study..

#1. Pens – 46%

#2. Shirts – 38%

#3. Calendars – 24%

#4. Bags – 23%

#5. Caps – 16%

Ability to identify the advertiser..

83% of those surveyed in the U.S. said they could name the advertiser on a promotional product that they had been given, with glassware (87%) and shirts (86%) having the highest recall.

Reasons for keeping an item..

75% of those surveyed said that the items usefulness is the primary reason they keep an item. The next highest reason was an items attractiveness, coming in at 27%.

Impressions of the advertiser..

41% of U.S. respondents indicated their impression of the advertiser was more favorable after receiving a branded promotional product.

Business after receiving a branded promotional product..

60% of respondents in the U.S. say that they have done business with the advertiser after receiving the branded promotional product.

Likelihood to do business in the future..

Among those who had not done business with the advertiser since receiving the item, 27% of U.S. respondents thought it likely that they would eventually do business with the advertiser.

Fate of items not planned to keep..

62% of respondents indicated that when given an item they do not intend to keep, they choose to give that item to someone else rather than throw it away.

Number of promotional products owned..

U.S. respondents have the most promotional products, averaging 9-10 items that contain and advertisers brand.

Importance of branded merchandise..

57% of respondents indicated that the brand name of a product is important, but only 18% consider them very important.

Gender & age marketing..

Males are more likely than females to own branded shirts and caps, while females are more likely to keep bags, writing instruments, calendars and health & safety products.

Those 45-54 years of age tend to keep the most items given to them (averaging 9.8 items) while those aged 22-34 tend to keep one less item than their more experienced counterparts.

The end result, promotional products not only have a great cost per impression, but they also get results. By using promotional products, small businesses are able to compete with their bigger budget competition and achieve a better result with less money.